|
|
Blue Rose
The Blue Rose has become a quest for most breeders of flowers. At first it was started just to se
if it could be done, but as time went by it was found that it was impossible to do by regular
methods of breeding techniques. So the quest began in earnest, but to this day the blue rose is a
very rare breed and is somewhat elusive. Although breeders now take an interest in trying to
develop a long term cut flower that is blue.
The reason why this color of rose is so elusive is that plants have various color pathways that
determine which color a flower is going to be. Although they can extract one gene from a blue
flower when crossed with the rose, this color will turn pink. The reason for this lies in the PH of
the cells. If the genes are changed, then we run the risk of changing the whole flower. It may
change other characteristics of the flower. It may be blue but would not look like the rose as we
know it now.
It was determined that if the blue rose could be bred, it would capture five percent of the flower
international market. This would prove to be a prize for the floral market worth many millions of
dollars. In recent years the market has moved to third world countries due to the fact that it is a
lower cost to produce flowers and lower cost for labor. Now the third world countries contribute
about seventy percent of the cut flower rose production. However this has not proven a profitable
way to do this, as it is very difficult to collect the royalties from these countries so that breeders
in North America have decided not to breed the elusive blue rose at all. The Dutch proved to be
the smartest of everyone as they still maintain control of the process from the breeder to the
plantations, to the marketing of the cut flowers worldwide. This way the product is not sold in an
open market.
|
 |
